Elijah turns 4!

Elijah turned 4 on Sunday. Four. FOUR. When did that happen?? I can’t believe how big he is and how the past 4 years have flown. He has enriched my life in so many ways. He has challenged me in so many ways! As much as he has frustrated me, he has taught me new things and filled my heart with more love than I knew I was capable of. Sometimes I feel bad for him. He was the guinea pig. The first child. The one I was super strict with. The one I wouldn’t allow to sleep in my bed for fear of never getting him out. The one I didn’t breastfeed for longer than 3 weeks. There are so many things I would have done differently, if only I had known. I did what I felt was best at the time and for that I am not sorry.

We threw him a big party this year. He wanted a Superman theme. While out shopping for the party I wondered over and over why he had not picked Spiderman. It would have been so much easier to find Spiderman decorations and themed party goodies. We managed to find some Superman stuff though. We had the party at the day mother’s house. I felt Elijah needed a big party this year. He has been oh so gracious with his sister entering his life. He has experienced big changes and taken everything in his stride. Setting up for the party with Gabby around proved challenging as she wanted to cling to me the whole time, but we managed. I booked Elijah a superhero jumping castle. It was the most epic jumping castle he has ever had. It was huge and had space for water which was a blessing since it was stupid hot on the day of the party. He absolutely loved it! This is the first year that we’ve had a jumping castle for him that he has actually used. He was always afraid of it before. He thoroughly enjoyed it this year.

Superhero Jumping Castle

There he is in the red pants. I also ordered him a custom made Superman cape. He is always asking us to tie baby blankets/dishcloths/towels around his neck as a cape. Now he has one of his very own he can keep!

Superman Cape

He loved it! Of course the cake had to be themed too. Elijah loves blowing out candles and while out shopping I found some relighting candles. I bought them immediately. I just knew that he would love to blow them out over and over again.

Superman CakeBlowing Candles

Get in my face!

I was right, he really enjoyed blowing the candles out. The children watching also enjoyed the spectacle and giggled every time the candles sparked up again. So fun! I specially requested that the cake be red inside. All these little surprises just added up to make everything special for him.

Elijah and I

We had to take a selfie at some point, despite my make up having melted off my face. It was so very hot. Luckily the little bit of water and the roof on the jumping castle helped keep the kids cool. Every year we make a “punch” in a huge glass punch bowl. I take ice, fruit juice and Sprite Zero and mix them all up in the bowl. It is always a huge hit. 10 litres were consumed in just a few hours! Either it was THAT hot, or the punch was delicious. Or both 😉

Elijah’s paternal grandparents also attended the party and bought him a….

Bike!

This is the second bike he has gotten from them. How cool are they? The party was exhausting. The kids all loved it. Clean up wasn’t a complete nightmare. It was lovely. Unfortunately Rudi missed the party. My car packed up the day before and he had to have a new alternator fitted after work on Friday. He only managed to get there just before 5 and by then all the proceedings were over and some of the children had left already.

His actual birthday was on Sunday. I had to work. Luckily he woke up before I had to leave for work, so he could open his present early. He had asked for a Spiderman electric toothbrush after giving my electric toothbrush a try and finding it ‘didn’t even hurt!’. He was really pleased when he opened it.

Spiderman Electric Toothbrush

We decided to take him out for lunch on his birthday to his favourite restaurant, Panarottis. He disappeared into the play room and we had to drag him out for them to sing for him. He gobbled up his pizza and his complimentary birthday ice cream 🙂 We took him to Reggies and let him pick out a few gifts within a budget. He chose a plastic sword, a race track with a car and a pinwheel. Gabby wasn’t really fussed with all the proceedings. As long as she was occupied, she didn’t mind all the attention her brother was getting.

Play Dough

I think he had a good birthday weekend. He was utterly spoilt and he really enjoyed everything. I can’t believe my baby is 4 already!